On August 21, millions of people across America will witness a spectacular total solar eclipse with their own eyes. But, this is largely because those people are not aware of, or concerned about, the astrological significance of eclipses.
While this post will serve in part as an admonishment not to observe this or any eclipse directly with your eyes (sorry to rain on the parade!), the main purpose of this article is to outline the possible political/social effects of the upcoming eclipse cycle.
Why It’s Inadvisable to Look At Eclipses
I say eclipse “cycle” because eclipses usually come in pairs (or occasionally in trios), in which two eclipses occur two weeks apart (on the new and full moons). The upcoming cycle begins on August 7th with a partial lunar eclipse in late Capricorn (as a Vedic astrologer, I’m using the sidereal zodiac), and closes with the total solar eclipse in early Leo on August 21 (for a list of prior eclipse cycles in this century, see my earlier article on eclipses here).
Eclipses happen roughly every six months, so they are not a rare phenomenon. What makes the current eclipse cycle unusual, however, is that the total solar eclipse will be visible across America from coast-to-coast. No matter where you are in the continental US on August 21, you should be able to see the moon at least partly blocking your view of the sun. The upcoming solar eclipse is also special in that there will be a 70-mile wide corridor between Oregon and the North Carolina Coast within which the “totality” of the eclipse will be visible—meaning that for a couple minutes the sun will be wholly covered by the moon for viewers in that corridor.
It will indeed be a rare spectacle to view that totality, one that you might only have a chance to witness once in your lifetime (although there will be one more in about seven years, reportedly). It will feel very eerie to see the sky suddenly dark and sunless in mid-day, and animals will even begin preparing for nightfall at that time. Yet, the superficial high you might get from witnessing the eclipse is not what’s most at stake.
Here’s why…
Eclipses occur whenever the sun and the moon, the two “luminaries,” are simultaneously in close proximity to the nodes, Rahu and Ketu (also called the “North Node” and “South Node” in Western astrology respectively). The luminaries represent our consciousness, while the nodes represent the portal through which our consciousness contacts and accesses subtler energies and deeper layers of reality (we fall asleep and wake up through the nodes, for instance). So, when the luminaries are conjunct with the nodes during an eclipse, human consciousness on Earth is exposed to subtle energies pouring into the physical realm through the nodes. Ordinarily, we are shielded from these powerful energies, except during sleep, when our subconscious mind naturally channels and moderates the amount and type of subtle energy for our conscious mind to integrate (which we mostly do upon waking).
But, as I’ve covered in a prior article, eclipse cycles are like periods when the world itself sleeps. Accordingly, the energy that comes through during an eclipse is energy that is appropriate for the planet to integrate as a living organism. That same energy is not appropriate for individual organisms to absorb and integrate, however. The energy of an eclipse is too powerful for most people, and it’s not meant for you to ingest.
So, I’m sorry, but please don’t look at the eclipse! The eyes truly are the window of the soul (and in astrology, the sun and the moon actually represent our two eyes). Thus, it turns out that when you look at an eclipse with your eyes, you are effectively exposing the deeper levels of your own being to the energy of the eclipse, which is energy that you are not meant to contend with. It’s like turning a fire-hose on a garden; in most cases, the effect will be destructive to each plant, even though plants routinely contend with water (in amounts that are appropriate to their makeup and life cycles). Moreover, the imperceptible subtle energy of an eclipse will manifest in much more obscure and protracted ways than fire-hosing a garden would.
This is not just my personal advisement; virtually every highly advanced spiritual teacher I know urges people not to look at eclipses (I do not include myself among that group, just to be clear).
With that warning out of the way, let’s look at the possible effects of the August eclipse cycle…
The Likely Effects of the Upcoming Eclipse Cycle
The eclipses of yore were often believed to portend major social challenges for the regions in which an eclipse was visible. There was an eclipse over Europe, for instance, the year before Hitler invaded Poland. I will not delve into this way of looking at eclipses here, except to point out that I have previously written about some difficulties ahead for the US, which ought to occur whether we view this eclipse as an omen or not.
Even so, there is one way that the eclipse will clearly have a major effect: the way in which it affects Donald Trump’s chart (which in turn will affect America, of course). I’ve already written twice this year about how Trump faces grueling astrology this summer (in this article and this article), but the upcoming eclipse cycle seems to warrant yet a third peek at Trump’s chart.
What is particularly noteworthy is that the solar eclipse falls right in between Trump’s Mars and ascendant. The eclipse will occur at about 5° Leo, just 1° from Trump’s Mars and around 1° – 3° from his ascendant degree (depending on the exact minute of Trump’s birth). For someone who is currently beset by severely challenging astrology, the eclipse on his ascendant and Mars is just more bad news (however, this is not necessarily the case for other people with Lee rising who are not experiencing difficult astrology now, too, as I’ll cover later in this article).
Let’s start with the solar eclipse on Trump’s ascendant. The effect of this event will be to disturb him psychologically, disrupt his function/roles in life, and create some specific physical vulnerabilities. Our ascendant rules our physical constitution and overall well-being, and also represents how we interface with the world (our role, our persona, our station in life, etc.). In short, the solar eclipse will throw a monkey wrench into some or all of those areas of Trump’s life. Since he is already struggling with Saturn’s influence on his luminaries, this destabilizing effect will be more pronounced than it otherwise would have been.
Meanwhile, the eclipse’s affect on Trump’s Mars is not much better. For Leo rising, Mars rules the fourth house of the heart and family life, along with the ninth house of the father, or higher authority in general (among other things). But, in Trump’s current Jupiter period, Mars also rules the third house and eight houses from his planetary period Lord. These rulerships relate more to nerves and unfavorable turns of events (among other things), so an eclipse on Trump’s Mars right now makes him or psychologically sensitive and vulnerable to each new thing lurking just around the corner. It’s similar to the way a shell-shocked person will react more strongly to loud noises.
If it doesn’t already feel like too much for Trump now, the August 21 eclipse should mark the point at which Trump starts to feel that he’s losing his grip on things.
A Sensitive Point
It’s also important to note that this eclipse will create a sensitive point in the zodiac at about 5° of Leo. So, when malefic planets like Saturn, Mars or Ketu, aspect this point soon afterwards, there will be a heightened effect, like the effect of an acupuncture needle piercing an energy node on the body (the September 11 attack occurred just as Mars and Ketu were conjuncting in early Sagittarius, three months after a solar eclipse set up a similar sensitive point at 6° of Sagittarius).
Trump’s ascendant degree is about 6° or 7° of Leo, very near the 5° Leo sensitive point that the eclipse will mark out.
While Saturn and Ketu won’t strongly aspect 5° of Leo anytime soon, Mars will conjunct that degree on September 3. That particular Mars transit will be preceded by Mars transiting over Trump’s natal Mars on September 1, and followed by Mars transiting over Trump’s ascendant degree too, somewhere around September 5-7 (again, depending on the exact minute of Trump’s birth, which I believe to be somewhere around 10:55-10:56am). This means that Trump is particularly vulnerable for the whole first week of September (and probably even a few days either side of that window). What kind of challenge Trump will suffer then remains to be seen, and I don’t think it is in very good taste to attempt any more specific predictions than I already have given. He will probably be suffering a lot emotionally/psychologically then.
To summarize, though, combined with what I’ve said in prior articles about Saturn sitting on Trump’s moon from July through September, the primary effect of this eclipse will be to make Trump even more psychologically and physically vulnerable and unstable this fall than he otherwise would be.
How Does the Eclipse Cycle Affect America’s Astrological Chart?
Many people are trying to analyze this eclipse cycle with respect to the astrological chart of the United States as well. The problem here is that America’s chart is not conclusively known. When was America “born?” On the Fourth of July? Even if so, at what time? It seems likely that America is Sagittarius rising, but some highly respected astrologers believe that its rising sign is Leo instead, and I’m sure there are even other respectable astrologers who prefer another ascendant altogether.
So, I will refrain from predicting how this eclipse might affect the country as a whole, except to note that any relevant national karma would probably play out through Trump and/or North Korea.
Now, in trying to predict whether the US will conflict with North Korea in August/September, another problem arises, because Kim Jong-un’s birth year is in dispute. North Korea’s official birth year for Kim is 1982, which is likely a government distortion to make it appear that he was born exactly 30 years after his father. The US intelligence community believes that Kim was born in 1984, but some people who interacted with Kim when he was a child claim that he was born in 1983 (if I get any greater insight into Kim’s birth year, I will write about it in the future).
Of these three possible birth years, only 1983 poses a significant problem around the eclipse. If born that year, Kim is likely to be highly agitated and aggressive just after the eclipse. This would be an especially undesirable state of affairs, given North Korea’s current war-driven nuclear buildup (and depending on Kim’s birth time, his ascendant might even yield a birth chart that puts his life in danger in late August as well, when Mars, Saturn, and Ketu all simultaneously aspect Kim’s Mars in that potential chart). A North Korea military scenario may seem less likely than the possibility that the eclipse merely affects America domestically through Trump, but we still should be praying for peace with North Korea nonetheless!
In the strictly domestic scenario, on the other hand, the solar eclipse may simply mark a turning point wherein Trump’s administration begins to reach rock bottom (no, we are not there yet). Trump may even begin to exhibit visible signs of collapsing under the weight of the ceaseless public attacks and political condemnation he is facing then. It may be that events conspire to bring out physiological or psychological signs of his overwhelming physical and mental distress. That could then put his presidency under even greater strain, as some politicians are already looking at invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump on the basis of his psychological or physical fitness to hold office. While I think it is a stretch to imagine that invoking the 25th Amendment would ultimately work, it nevertheless could factor in as one of the many contributors that could move Trump to resign by the end of October. This is not necessarily to say that Trump will leave office, but the most likely window for that possibility is from the solar eclipse through the month of October.
One final note: if it turns out that Russia actually affected the vote count of the November election, then the most likely time for that revelation to be made public would be just after the solar eclipse (say, between August 28 and September 8). However, such a revelation would throw, not only Trump’s presidency, but also the entire country into unprecedented turmoil, as there’s no clear way of dealing with an illegitimate sitting president. So, I don’t think that this kind of information would be allowed to become public, even if it were true—although it still falls just within the realm of possibility, given Trump’s astrology. Even if you hope to see Trump leave office, please pray that this is not the situation through which that occurs, as this unprecedented scenario could have the potential to rip America apart. You may want to pray for the well-being of America as a whole, while you’re at it.
(Note added 08/12/17: please notice the interesting comment below from “Umapati”)
For Those of You Who Are Not Trump
For those of you with an ascendant or key planets in Leo, don’t worry too much about this eclipse. You’re not Trump, so you probably aren’t already so overrun with difficult astrology that you could be destabilized by that celestial event. Eclipses do often signify new events or “next steps” in our life trajectory, however, of both the positive and negative sort. So, eclipses aren’t bad in themselves; they are mostly just transitional.
Looking at an eclipse is bad, though, as I explained above. And, if you can help it, try not to make any big decisions or start any significant new ventures during an eclipse cycle (i.e. August 7-21), because this will generally give some instability to the endeavor in question (depending the on other astrological factors involved).
If you can be more reflective or meditative during an eclipse cycle, you may find that you go deeper and are more insightful then than you normally are. The proximity of the nodes to the luminaries means that everyone will be receiving something from the “other side” at that time, whether we know it or not. Creativity, insight and innovation are enhanced by eclipse cycles, just as a good night sleep or an interesting dream can be just what we need to see things more clearly or take the next step.
So, my advice is that we all try to take advantage of this eclipse cycle and try to make it a spiritual milestone for ourselves, regardless of how others handle it.
And if I don’t post again before the solar eclipse, I’ll just see you on the other side…!
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